Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 458

Finishing off the plat for Cat Quest 2 (was on sale for £2.39 and I just wanted a bit of a mindless one). Then might go through a bit more of Steins Gate. Not feeling big games at the minute, plus Feb is packed so don’t want to have to stop one part way through.

Will continue Elden Ring and may check out Judgement too. My first Yakuza game.

Sonic Frontiers and Final Fantasy 7 Remake for the PS5. More so with FF7, currently on chapter 7.

Blitzing through Christmas games and loving two super hero themed games - Gotham Knights which I'm loving. Bit rough around the edges but a blast to play and Marvel Midnight Suns which is fantastic! A real surprise with its crunchy combat its one of my games of the year.
Also making progress on GOW Ragnarok which is utterly brilliant. Just brilliant
Have a great weekend guys and gals ❤❤

The Sale ambushed my wallet now I'm overwhelmed with huge games I wonder if I'll have much time for, still, not gonna rush them. I got AC Valhalla which I'm highly impressed by. About to start Ghost of Tsushima. Playing AC Origins too, also excellent. Now I feel like I'm an AC guy after FarCry just got too nonsense for my liking especially with FC5. Meanwhile I've kinda left my Elden Ring second run hanging. I'll have to pop in and make slow progress.

@LN78 you'll be VERY disappointed in the game overall. One of the worst. Sorry

Today I will:
-attempt a run on Slay the Spire
-complete some quests and locate collectables in HZD Frozen Wilds
-progress with Jydge
-maybe complete Mosaic

Yay for video games!

Have a good weekend and happy gaming all.

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town PS4 All Day Long. 😊

I have accumulated more than 120 hours of gameplay, still working my butt on collecting gems for Spirit Request.

If I get any time to game this weekend it'll be taking the Magnum Opus out for a spin through the wastelands on Mad Max.

I’m mostly playing The Witcher 3 (performance mode is sooooo sweet!) and Marvels Midnight Suns. Also on my third play through of GTA V! (previously played on Xbox 360 and PS4). I can’t get into GTA online, but I love the single player campaign.

Fallout 76 and The Witcher 3. Really enjoying FO76 and its a far cry from what it was and despite everything Bethesda have really supported it.

@LN78 Ignore that poster as i expect they still think its like its launch state. Nowadays its more like Fallout 4, most of the big bugs are gone and a lot of the core issues are fixed. If you liked Fallout 4 chances are you will like Fallout 76, keep in mind its always online and you will be sharing the world with other people who you will see in game however the community is very friendly and most of the time they just want to team up with you or trade items or just do their own thing and ignore you.

I have decided to spend January trying to finish some stuff that I’ve been plucking at for months or years so I’ll be playing Ragnarok, xenoblade chronicles and halo infinite corridors.

Inscryption all the way!

@LN78 Ah sorry brain fart moment haha

Won't spend much time typing this week as I'm having too much of a blast with the 3 games in my rotation. I will be playing Horizon Forbidden West, The Witcher 3 and Atelier Ryza, all amazing games.

I personally can't see why Forbidden West didn't get more universal praise as it has improved on literally every facet from the first game and is a true sequel in that sense, story vastly improved, gameplay is better with more upgrades and variety with armors giving alloy skill boosts which has incentivised me to get every armour I find, especially with the transmog system. Need I say more, but I will!

There's a shocking amount of content, I've spent about 25 hours so far and I only have about 20% completion and unlike the first game which I was pretty mid on, I actually want to complete and see everything in this game, it also helps that this is the most beautiful game to have come out to date and it's more impressive considering that it's an open world and cross gen game at the same time. I haven't taken so many screenshots in any game in my life, but every single location and new set of armour I come across I must capture that moment!

Finally the quest quality and dialogue have been greatly improved, only gripe is I wish Aloy was more lighthearted in general, whilst understandable with her situation being trying to save the world and constantly people trying to kill her, she can come off as a bit bland in contrast to basically every other character in this game, even my favorite character Sylens has more humor than Aloy.

Thanks for reading and happy gaming 😋

Confusing Roach in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

It's pulled me back in way more than I thought it would. The game is absolutely beautiful to look at and absolutely beautifully written at times. So much love went in to this game, and I'm paying it back by doing nearly all contracts and side quests. I'm finished with Crookback Bog, just need to head back to Crows Perch...

And then it's off to collect my armour from the new quest, I'm 4 levels below requirement, but I feel like picking it up before Novigrad feels right. And, as I found it by chance, the poor chap who hired me has been waiting since about level 4 for me to come back and help him

@LN78 that won't be the only thing to disappoint you, but im sure your aware of the games rep. Theres a pretty decent PC mod that fixes the AI and updates the visuals, but im guessing your playing on PS3?

Finishing GoW Ascension against the clock before my subscription runs out and then I'll probably continue Steins;Gate Elite.

I got the Life is Strange remasters on the sale, finished Before the Storm and now on to Life is Strange. Love those games!

Very early in god of war ragnarok but really enjoying what I've played so far. I liked the first game but I feel like I'm a bit more into this one already. Also playing some more echoes of the expansion for outer wilds. I loved the base game so much but while I'm enjoying the dlc, I feel like some of the puzzles are way more obtuse than the base game and I can see me having to check out some guides. Have a good one folks

@LN78 ha ha enjoy anyway !

It's that time of the year where Games Done Quick returns. I shall use this time accordingly and play some of my Vita backlog.

I'm playing GRID Legends as a New Year palate cleanser. I do like Grid game, the racing is frantic, the tracks are different to the "serious" racing games like GT7 and Project Cars, there's the nemesis feature, so it's all a bit more fun and a lot less grindy. I'm choosing to ignore the story mode video clips, which were cringe worthy, obviously

It always comes back to binding of Isaac. That have never left my console since it was given away on ps plus years ago. What a game

PS5
Horizon Forbidden West
I got all the way to reviving Gaia a few months ago then gave this a pause as i landed four months of free PC Game Pass. Thinking to dive back in, want to finish before i play Call of the Mountain.

Quest 2
Until You Fall
Bloody difficult but rewarding and addictive. Pretty awesome VR roguelite, and what a soundtrack!

Mare
Its a bit meh. Lovely visuals and decent puzzles, but it leans so heavy into Team Ico's aesthetic that it feels more like a rip then a homage.

PC Game Pass
Deathloop
Pretty fun, and its style has clicked with me. Am a bit annoyed that the Roguelite aspect sortve makes my favorite part of an Arkane game (the skill tree and finding upgrade items) irrevelant. Fair enough, they tried something new with their formula, its still quite fun.

Pentiment
This one took a while to warm to me, but now im near the end of the first act and im hooked. As an interactive narrative, it is really on another level. Fantastic and gripping stuff.

Playing a bit of mgs the original on steam deck ohhhh the memories

Im playing the excellent yakuza like a dragon.wow what a game.the story is amazing. The English in this game is really good.im glad its not Japanese only.but im enjoying the english speaking in yakuza like a dragon.i love the turn base rpg gameplay.the graphics is good.cool boss fights.the game is serious and funny at the same time.im also playing star war jedi fallen order.the gameplay is fun.its like a souls like star wars game.cool graphics.cool boss fights.the story is good also.watching Michigan wolverines college 🏀 basketball play.my boston Celtics 🏀 play.and my Pittsburgh Steelers 💛🖤 play.i will be watching legendary sitcoms 📺 tv Comedy in whats happening now.sanford and sons.family matters.saved by the bell.and martin.word up son

I’m currently doing platinum runs of Valkyrie elysium (great combat fun) and nfs unbound (great arcade racer fun) have a good one chaps n chappessess

Can’t escape the grasp of destiny 2 😭

I’m FINALLY playing AI: The Somnium Files Nirvana. Game case came completely wrecked from Amazon but at least the game works perfectly. Been playing it since Thursday night and I’m loving it. It’s a great change of pace game in-between the likes of God of War Ragnarok, Crisis Core & The Witcher 3. Loved the Zero Escape games (well maybe not the ending of ZTD) so more from the creator’s mind, the better. Can’t wait to watch it all unfold 😎😈😎

@CWill97 yh thats a good one, i tried it on a whim as my first visual novel and it ended up getting me hooked on the genre, still havent done the sequel yet. Anyhow enjoy!

I have Fallout 4 still on the go, with a sprinkle of Judgement on the side.

I'm still playing two absolute belters, FFXIV and The Witcher 3.

Got the platinum for 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 which,I have to say, I enjoyed immensely. Great game and I found the dialogue rather charming. However my tolerance for anime nonsense is high!

Bit of a awkward spot now. Don't want to start anything too involved as the duo of Persona games drop in just over a week so I'm having a go at a VN from the backlog. 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗚. Seems pretty good so far.

Enjoy your weekend peeps.

@shonenjump86 Chapter 7 into Chapter 8 is really good, enjoy!

Gow Ragnarok for me with a bit of Surviving Mars on the side. Ragnarok is brilliant.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion. I'm highly enjoying the main story portion of the game now that I've ditched doing any more side quests, which I thought were pretty awful. I understand it's a product of it's time and being a handheld game, but I'm just glad I was able to get the good momentum back after doing strictly side quests for a few days derailed my enjoyment. I should be able to finish at some point this weekend.

@GorosBat For me there's just something missing from HFW, I can't quite put my finger on it. There's so many things I adore about it, but also things that BORE me. Maybe it's Aloy, maybe its the cast of characters, maybe its the plot, something about it just doesn't grab me. Wish that were different though as I see why so many love it, just doesn't click for me I guess.

Hope you're excited for that future DLC!

Trying to narrow my focus so I can give these games the full attention they deserve....

PS5 - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion

Switch - NieR Automata

Xbox Series X - Sonic Frontiers

Playing some of the games on the Disney Lion King / Aladdin collection, the Capcom SNES version of Aladdin was a nice suprise, a really enjoyable little 16 bit platformer to discover. Also giving Crash Nitro-Fueled another go and actually learned how to properly drift / boost this time, fun game so far.

Hi there fellow gamers;
Having finished and Platinum Jedi Fallen Order, this weekend
I´ll be playing Alan Wake Remastered as well as some Guilty Gear Strive and DnF Duel on my PS5 and continue my first playtrough of the fantastic Outer Worlds as well as some racing and driving around in Forza Horizon 5 on my Series X.
Cheers, stay safe everyone and happy gaming weekend to us all

Personally I haven't been in a mood for single player games after completing Ragnarok, although I have dabbled around a bit in Elden Ring.

Mainly though I've been grinding on Overwatch 2, very close to hitting Master rank, currently Diamond 1! Wish me luck this weekend!

@TraCuz-

I felt the same about Horizon: Forbidden West. Still can't pin down exactly what it was I didn't like about it and it's really bizarre to me because Zero Dawn is one of my top 10 favorite PS4 games and that's saying a lot because the PS4 library is no joke.

Finally finished Rangorok... What a game! Also finished Tales of Arise last week after picking it up in the sale for under £20. Thats a cracking good jrpg as long as you dont mi d the endless dialogue!
Just started Judgement and I like what Ive played so far.

I will be starting Resident Evil 7 this weekend, eventually planning to earn all trophies. After a bit of a kerfuffle where the PS Plus version was not eligible for a PS5 upgrade. I finally bought it during the recent sale and an now ready to experience my first Resident Evil game ever. Exciting!

@Gamer83 @TraCuz- @GorosBat Hi there friends;
In my case, there were two things that made me not play the game as much as I thought I would and still haven´t finisehd yet:

• First, Elden Ring came out in the same month and I got completely addicted to it having put more than 220 hours by exploring and helping other players beat Bosses;
• Second, for some reason the game didn´t click for me as fast as Zero Dawn did. Don´t get me wrong, HFW is fantastic and an improvement in many different ways.
  I have more than 56 hours already and some of the story missions have been pretty great.
  Maybe I just wasn´t in the proper mood to play a game like this.
  Hopefully, the game will eventually "grab me" just like HZD did back in the day. Because again, the game is very good.
  Cheers, stay safe and y´all have a good one

I just felt like play Symphony of the night this week. I booted up my Vita to play it and got reminded just how much the Vita slaps.

Working this weekend so not committing to anything major, but might start Horizon Forbidden West on Sunday night.

I've just finished Sonic Frontiers so I'll try and get time to give Evil West a try, looking forward to a shorter and more linear game after finding the last few hours of sonic to drag.

Also started the Stanley Parable, seems interesting and funny so far. Looking forward to discovering for myself why it's loved by so many

@paulbuck1996 sackboy is criminally underrated in my opinion

Hades has got its claws into me big-time. Nasty feeling I might have to platinum it before I can play anything else

@shogunrok - assume you are playing Forspoken, so hope you are enjoying it! Or whatever else it might be

As for me, i just platinumed Ragnorak, and have turned my attention to Return to Monkey Island which im loving

@Gamer83 I loved zero dawn but couldn't really get into forbidden west. Burned out less than a 3rd into it. Just found story and general focus of zero dawn was more for me

@kyleforrester87 Control is really worth seeing to the end. The ashtray maze section is so good, but the whole game is really fun. Enjoy it

It's more Ragnorok for me this weekend. Story is good so far but I'm early on. Waiting to be swept off my feet 😁 I'm getting used to the PS5 UI now and it's not so bad, just taking me time to warm up to it.

Just gotten the platinum for Cult of the Lamb and been playing the first stages of They Are Billions again. The game blessed me with a really sweet map to build and defend for the big attack that’s coming. I really hope a sequel is being made, so good!

FFVII Crisis Core PS5. Just started chapter 4 - game is growing on me as I progress more.

I finally finished Sekiro, immortal severance ending. Was my first walkthrough.
What an exceptional game.

Meanwhile I started A Plague Tale Requiem.
I'm enjoying it a lot, it improves in everything compared to the first one, which I loved.

Gt7 online with the nephew's.

Can I just say thank you for having The Luminary be the face of "What're you playing this weekend?" this weekend?

• Thank you. Dragon Quest XI is just great.

As for what I'm actually playing...still Ghost of Tsushima. I'm gonna try to finish the game before Jan 10, if not, Jan 13.

@ZoSo would you say the platinum is difficult or time consuming?

Chuckie Egg, Ant Attack.

A bit more cyberpunk for me..also watching tulsa king with sly stallone. Worth checking out as its a blinder so far..have a good weekend everybody 👍

@Mikey856 Not difficult at all, however, there are a fair few missables with no chapter select.

I just gave a guide a fast scan at the start of each chapter. Didn't spoil the experience or story.

Time wise it took me 80 hours. The 300 missions took most of that as I did them early. If you waited to the end when you'd be OP for the majority you could shave 10 hours off easy.

100% on the DMW wheel was a bit of a PITA as it's random.

Likely continue Lost Judgment. The story has me too hooked.

I may also hop into VR.

Just finished God of War Ragnarok. Absolutely loved it. Gonna start Stray now.

I started Evil West (Xbox Series X) last Sunday and completed it yesterday morning before work. I adore this title by Flying Wild Hogs.

You know what’s great about this game? It unequivocally knows it’s a video game. It’s a pure Xbox 360 arcade-y, on rails third person shooter similar to Gears of War, and the FPS Bulletstorm. It has the over-the-top dialogue that you’d see in B action movies, and uses the comedy style you’d see in the Wolfenstein games in how they discuss killing Nazi’s, but in this case, Vampires.

Sure, the level design is incredibly outdated, particularly with invisible walls — but there is something refreshing about a tight, 12-hour linear experience that is actually nostalgic. I don’t always need an open world 40-hour plus comedienne. That said, it is disappointing that you can’t backtrack once you realize you missed a collectible, but that’s a minor nitpick due to levels being re-playable.

The combat is pretty fun and frantic as well. It takes a while to unlock new interesting abilities and weapons, but once you do it’s a blast combining everything together to wreck havoc. It can get a little too chaotic at times. Oftentimes, too many waves of enemies will sometimes be thrown at you and it can become overwhelming. In fact, I’ve died in normal mode in this game than I have in any other game in years. It requires you to actually use every weapon in your arsenal. Once you understand that it really makes for a fun time.

I’ll probably start a NG+ in order to unlock all perks and upgrades (it’s not possible to do it all in a single playthrough - a flaw in game design, in my opinion) and mop up some more achievements. Maybe this time around I’ll bring a buddy along.

Overall, Evil West is just old school fun, and sometimes that’s all what a game needs. And did I mention that it’s fully playable in cooperative mode? If that doesn’t sell you ok the game then I don’t know what will.

I’m also starting Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII Reunion on Xbox Series X. I was going to buy it on my PS5, but I decided to support it through Microsoft, with the blinded hope that Square Enix will see the demand to have their games be on this ecosystem.

Another game I’m going to replay is Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition. I’m in an arcade-y, off the walls FPS from the Xbox 360 era type of mood. It helps that it’s one of the best FPSs from that generation, and quite unique as well. I miss those days. Gaming was so much more … fun back then.

@LN78

Regardless of the quality of the game, that’s above the average going rate for games in charity shops.

Im playing Elden Ring and just beat a tough boss, the first real challenge of the game definitely. Also Final Fantasy Reunion. On switch I got Live A Live and PC I got The Forest a scary survival game

Gran Turismo 7. I’m not generally into racing games but I’m enjoying it so far.

I am starting to get the itch to replay Elden Ring again so that will probably be the game that fixes me over until Hogwarts (if it reviews well)

@Rob_230 the Ashtray Maze is one of my favourite moments in gaming. The music hits, its quite out of the blue and just has something special!

I platinummed The Callisto Protocol last night, will be playing some A Plagues Tale: Requiem next.

Really need to get back to playing Elden ring. Surely it will click with me this time!

@Skywalker1080p keeping it Retro !

@KingPev
Retro?
I just bought them on cassette.
£2.99 each from Woolworths.
Yes, nearly 3 whole pounds!

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game (PS2) - Four levels remain to complete.

Tetris (Windows Phone) - Just started to kill some time.

Age of Sparta (Windows Phone) - Still haven't played in nearly a week. I should really get back on this this weekend.

I'm not playing in the weekend specifically, as I'm out of town, but when I return on monday I will start Dragon Quest XI S, continue Assassin's Creed Syndicate and Chronicles India, Spider-Man Miles Morales and The Witcher 3 of course. I'm on vacation after many years, so it means lots of gaming!!

I'm going to continue with the missions in Crisis Core reunion. I'm at 80 % right now. And play some online matches of modern warfare 2 together with my wife

The Witcher 3 on PS5 and Civ VI on the Deck for me this weekend

@GorosBat I agree with almost everything you said. The game is the most beautiful I ever played. And a absolute improvement over Zero Dawn in every aspect. It deserved a lot more praise!!

@ZoSo good stuff. I never played the original psp game so I’m down for this. Time isn’t on my side these days unfortunately but I could manage a 70/80 hr run, just about lol

I've been playing The Callisto Protocol and I'm enjoying it even if it is linear to a fault.

I've also started up Pentiment but haven't played enough to form an opinion beyond it having a cool art style.

Finally, I played and finished the story mode for Hundred Days, it was a neat little thing, but not neat enough to keep me playing the 'endless' mode.

I'm probably going to finish my second playthrough of Signalis at some point tomorrow because that game rules!

@Mikey856 I also did the whole game on hard which isn't necessary as you can play on normal and just switch to hard for the final boss.

Also beat Minerva on hard which isn't needed for the platinum and needs grinding.

Skip these and I reckon a sub 50 hour platinum run is easily doable.

Have fun!

@RaZieLDaNtE I too am slowly working through Alan Wake Re and gotta say, I love the atmosphere. Enjoy!

Loving Evil West, as well as Chained Echoes right now. In between those two squeezing in Alan Wake Remastered, and Vampire Survivors.

So many games already to play I am not looking forward to 2023 release schedules.

@ZoSo I shall heed these words my friend. Thanks for your tips bro

I'm still playing Scarlet Nexus. Almost done with my first playthrough and then I'll be going onto my second.

@MayaMousavi favorite so far?

Midnight Suns

@mac_da_man
If you like life is strange I would highly recommend The Council. I played it recently as it’s on PS Extra, and had a great time. The best game of its type I’ve played. It also straddles the grounded (quasi historical) and the supernatural, but it adds an RPG element, where upgrading certain paths through the skill tree will allow a great variety of options in conversation.

I’m wrapping up yomi. The style is a curiously refreshing break from all the hi fidelity stuffs we get to deal with these days

@thefourfoldroot1 thanks for the tip, will check it out. Cheers!

Got gifted the code for gow ragnorak cause my mate got the bundle but only plays fifa... its amazing as expected

I was playing toem but it was a plus game and my subscription lapsed cos there is no ps essential deals really about so moved onto the pathless which has nice traversal mechanics

@ErrantRob Hi there friend.
I played the original Alan Wake Xbox 360 version back in the day and I was hoping this version had slightly better controls and not just a visual upgrade, but it is still very much the action narrative driven game I remember.
I also really want to try both Evil West and Chained Echoes.
There´s just to many games to play and not so much time 😜
Cheers, stay safe and all the best

Still tackling my first Witcher 3 play through and I see no end in sight. This game is massive.

Trophy hunting in Tales of Arise and started Cult of the Lamb, killed my first dissenter the game is brilliant.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks!

@TraCuz- thanks, that Airbuster gave me some trouble in chapter 7 but I got em. Now on chapter 8.

For the one day off it’s mw2 and dmz starting to enjoy dmz more except the sweats lol

Finished up Rachet and Clank Rift Apart it was a blast wouldove to see another part soon it was a blast.

Disaster Report 4. It's bonkers.

A little late, but I played Ragnarok post-game.